While probably best known for making the earth tremble beneath heavyweight drones from the likes of SunnO))), KTL and Gravetemple while also rocking hard in both Thorr’s Hammer and Goatsnake, Stephen O’Malley is also the guiding hand behind the Ideologic Organ imprint of Editions Mego, releasing a treasure trove of avantgarde, experimental and electronic music both old and new. So it was with these latter activities in mind that Frédéric Blondy, artistic director of l’Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisation Musicales (ONCEIM), approached him to compose a work for the ensemble to perform.

The resulting piece was recorded in the ancient environs of the Église St Merri in the heart of Paris (itself home to some of the less raucous events of the city’s annual Sonic Protest festival) by Augustin Muller of the neighbouring IRCAM, and appears

It’s almost as if they planned it. It’s pissing it down. Absolutely fucking pissing it down.

Exactly the sort of weather that makes you want drone doom. Which is just as well, because doom legend Stephen O’Malley‘s playing tonight, and he’s supporting doom jazz maestros Bohren & Der Club Of Gore. The line of bedraggled amplifier worshippers stretches back from the church almost to Hackney Central, and the beleaguered door staff are doing a sterling job of cramming everyone in as quickly as possible. We take our

The first thing to notice – after being amused and bemused by the number of variously-mutilated teddy bears peppering L’Embobineuse‘s decorations (nailed to the ceiling; as the head of a nude mannequin in a fish tank) as well as noticing the number of SunnO))) stencils which have presumably recently appeared on every available surface in the place – including its in-car 3D cinema) – about the venue is the way in which the entire back of the stage is taken up with Stephen O’Malley‘s six Sunn cabs, three Sunn amp heads and two more Ampeg bass amps and cabs. What was that about a wall of sound?

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